I sincerely believe that it is far more beneficial and far less costly to help a child build confidence than it is to fix an adult who has little or none.

THE VOICES IN OUR MIND

We all hear voices in our mind. The voices that tell us what to do and who we are. The voices that dictate our words and actions.

What kind of voices do you hear? Are they saying what a wonderful person you are? Or are they telling you how worthless you are?

Growing up we are connected to many different people – our family, our friends, our schoolmates, our co-workers and others in the community. We hear all sorts of comments, both positive and negative. The positive comments make us feel good for a while, but they tend to disappear from our minds. The negative comments make us feel bad and they seem to hang around for a long, long time, sometimes for the rest of our lives. They become bad habits that destroy our happiness and stop us from being successful.

When we hear words like, “you’re stupid, you’re ugly, you’re worthless”, they stick like thorns in our heart and we can’t get rid of them easily. They are often said to us in anger, out of jealousy or just because someone wants to hurt us and they are not true. However, these hurtful words fixate themselves in our minds and we keep repeating them over and over and over again, just like a tape recorder. These voices tell us lies that we start believing and then we live up to our own unrealistic and negative expectations.

When we believe these “lies” about ourselves, it can have a negative affect on everything we do in life. People can lose weight and still hear voices that say they are fat and ugly. People can have great abilities and still hear voices saying that they have no value. We believe more what we say to ourselves than what other people say to us. If we feel worthless, people can tell us that we are terrific, but we won’t believe it because the voices in our mind are telling us that they are wrong. We can try to change, but if we don’t believe in ourselves, we will give up easily. We will stay stuck because we are looking in the mirror at a lie and not the real person inside.

We need to stop listening to these negative voices and start looking at ourselves for who we really are. We need to mentally strip ourselves right down to our roots and discover the real person inside. We need to stop believing lies and believe the truth about who we are. We need to make positive changes in our lives.

How? Here are some suggestions:
* say positive statements to yourself daily (I am a nice person, I have value, I am talented, I do a good job, I live to help people, I am awesome!)
* write positive thoughts in a daily journal (did you smile, do something nice, think something positive)
* hang out with positive people (join a club or group)
* go to positive places (avoid anywhere that makes you feel bad)
* watch happy, funny movies
* read books that inspire you
* exercise
* keep active
* make some realistic goals and work towards them

You do not have to believe the voices in your mind. Always try to stop any negative thoughts from controlling how you feel about yourself. Train yourself to think positively about yourself. YOU CAN DO IT AND YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF TO TRY!